Cloud

Market Trend Report - September 2020

The Future of
Mul4-Cloud Networking
September 2020

Sponsored by

www.futuriom.com
 Futuriom - The Future of Mul0-Cloud Networking Report - September 2020

Key Findings
• The Great Cloud Wave – the shi^ of IT applica3ons to mul3ple and hybrid clouds – is
crea3ng demand for a new mul3-cloud networking (MCN) solu3ons than can unify
networking infrastructure among cloud constructs.

• Enterprise IT, Network, and Security managers want a unified networking infrastructure
that can connect with mul3ple cloud and integrate with their exis3ng networking and IT
investment. Futuriom collected this feedback from a survey of 150 enterprise end users
with technology roles, qualified as Director-level and above.

• The key drivers of MCN include providing more op3ons for mul3-cloud and hybrid
cloud (69%), consolida3ng data-center with public cloud infrastructure (69%), improving
the performance of distributed applica3ons (65%), and managing security policy and
visibility (61%), according to Futuriom survey work.

• MCN solu3ons will be used to create so^ware-defined virtual networks that can
integrate private data center, public cloud, and enterprise networks. This will drive the
uptake of Network as a Service (NaaS), soRware-defined networking (SDN), and Applica0on
Programming Interfaces (APIs) to connect and integrate exis0ng networks and cloud
plaZorms.

• Top use cases of MCN, according to end-user survey feedback, include security integra3on
and virtual firewall management, mul3-cloud applica3on integra3on and performance
assurance, network visibility, security analy3cs, and unified mul3-cloud network
monitoring and management.

• Companies highlighted in this report: Alkira, Arrcus, AT&T (T), Aviatrix, Amazon (AMZN),
Aryaka Networks, Cato Networks, Ciena (CIEN), Cisco (CSCO), Citrix (CTXS),
Digital Realty (DLR), DriveNets, Equinix (EQIX), For0net (FTNT), Google (Alphabet) (GOOGL),
IBM, Itential, Juniper Networks (JNPR), Masergy, Megaport, MicrosoR (MSFT), NetFoundry,
Nokia (NOK), PacketFabric, Pureport, Tata Communica0ons, Teridion, Verizon (VZ),
Versa Networks, Volterra, VMware (VWW)

(Note: This is not an exhaus0ve list of companies in the MCN space, but an overview of top
companies that Futuriom has analyzed in its research.)

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 Futuriom - The Future of Mul0-Cloud Networking Report - September 2020

1. Intro: Networking the Great Cloud Wave

The great Cloud Wave is here. As public cloud infrastructure has expanded to provide billions of
dollars of infrastructure and services to enterprise end users, businesses and organiza0ons have
become more confident in moving large por0ons of their IT infrastructure to the cloud, which
has become a more complex environment for distributed applica0ons that can run in private
clouds, public clouds, and hybrid clouds.

This rolling Great Cloud Wave has accelerated in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing
business crisis has demonstrated the u0lity of using cloud technology to scale and support
virtual work and applica0ons, whether it’s remote learning, soRware-as-a-service (SaaS), or
real-0me collabora0on and conferencing. The use of mul0ple cloud resources and the building
of distributed cloud applica0ons using technology such as microservices has now become a
board-level priority across the globe.

Futuriom believes that this new phase of accelerated cloud growth will drive demand for
solu0ons providing high-performance, secure mul0-cloud networking (MCN), which can provide
on-demand connec0vity network connec0vity to applica0ons regardless of which clouds they
reside in. Before we talk about how networking must evolve to support distributed applica0ons
and mul0ple clouds, let’s clarify some of the terminology involved in connec0ng these clouds.

Private Cloud: A private cloud generally describes a datacenter built with current cloud
technologies that runs “on-premises,” or hosted and managed by an organiza0on or an
enterprise itself, rather than in a public cloud.

Hybrid Cloud: When enterprises build distributed applica0ons that share resources on both
private and public clouds, it is generally referred to as hybrid cloud.

Mul3-cloud: Enterprises might need services or resources from mul0ple public clouds, such as
Amazon Web Services (AWS), MicrosoR Azure, or Google Cloud PlaZorm (GCP). In this case they
need to connect their networking infrastructure to mul0ple clouds.

Mul3-cloud Networking (MCN): MCN technology provides the capability to build a logical,
soRware-defined, secure network to cloud applica0ons across mul0ple private clouds,
datacenters, and public clouds.

As public cloud resources and hybrid-cloud applica0ons proliferate, enterprises are finding a
rising need to connect these services using a more efficient, soRware-defined approach to

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networking. Cloud resources and applica0ons may move around or change quickly, and the
legacy model of building sta0c networks 0ed to specific hardware devices such as enterprise
firewalls and routers is not agile enough for a mul0-cloud and hybrid cloud world. All of this will
put new demands and requirements on networking technologies, which must scale and provide
agile and secure bandwidth to the many different types of cloud connec0ons.

This report, the first of what we expect to be many on the topic of MCN, details the drivers for
these new mul0-cloud networking technologies, the required feature sets, use cases, and the
emerging ecosystem of vendors looking to create MCN technologies.

Our research has included dozens of interviews with end users as well as several end-user
surveys, including the 2020 Futuriom MCN and a Network Automa0on surveys. In the Futuriom
MCN Survey, we received responses from 150 enterprise end users qualified with Director-level
and above roles in networking, IT, and security. We’ve also spoken to dozens of technology
vendors in the space about emerging trends. In this report we have compiled all of this
informa0on into our vision of where MCN is likely to go over the next decade.

2. Technology Drivers for Multi-Cloud Networking

The evolu0on of cloud has created both challenges and opportuni0es for networking. It’s 0me
for the network to be re-invented. Think about the basic cloud approaches as crea0ng “islands”
of compute and applica0ons workloads that need to be connected by networks. As the public
cloud players have quickly expanded their infrastructure and subsumed large amounts of
private and public traffic, they have become the de facto public infrastructure, rivaling both
enterprise datacenters and public communica0ons networks.

At the same 0me, the emergence of both private and public clouds has created a huge
expansion in co-loca0on facili0es and Internet exchanges, where enterprises and cloud
providers can easily connect to each other under one roof. One can think of this co-loca0on
infrastructure as the “edge” of the network and the place where the bulk of mul0-cloud
networks will meet. All of this infrastructure can now be more easily connected through the
presence of soRware-based Applica0on Programming Interfaces (APIs), which are the building
blocks of cloud infrastructure.

On a broad level, end users simply want one logical network to connect all of their applica0ons
and clouds. When we asked 150 enterprise network operators about their cloud networking
strategy, the top focus was on integra0ng their enterprise networks with the cloud providers
(56%).

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If you are a public cloud or private cloud customer looking to build distributed applica0ons that
run in mul0ple clouds, this presents a bunch of challenges for your network. These challenges
include:
• The public cloud vendors have their own networks and their way of building them –
known as “constructs” – and their goal is not necessarily to enable you to easily
connect to other clouds, but to keep you inside their cloud.
• Running applica3ons across mul3ple clouds poses security and compliance risks,
because you may not always have insight and visibility into what’s happening to your
applica3ons on networks in other clouds.
• In the cloud world, network capacity, connec3on topology, and bandwidth demand
can be highly variable, requiring a more agile way to manage logical networks on
demand, including providing auto-scaling, virtualiza3on, and resiliency.
• BeNer network connec3vity is needed to connect distributed apps, both
geographically across mul3ple clouds and mul3ple microservices (mul3-cluster).

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These are a few of the higher-level challenges. In the MCN survey of enterprise end users, we
drilled down into the primary drivers of MCN technology. These top drivers included providing
more op0ons for mul0-cloud and hybrid cloud (69%), consolida0ng data-center with public
cloud infrastructure (69%), improving the performance of distributed applica0ons (65%), and
managing security policy and visibility (61%).

How will these goals be reached? The MCN approach to connec0ng across clouds requires a
wide variety of network virtualiza0on, integra0on, and applica0on-layer technologies to address
specific use cases, as we will detail in the following sec0on. These users cases will be addressed
by specific technology building blocks of enabling MCN technologies. These enabling
technologies will need to operate across the en0re networking stack, from the physical
infrastructure (referred to in the networking as Layer 0-1), to networking layers 2 and 3, and up
to higher applica0ons layers (Layer 4-7 or above).

The MCN enabling technologies fit into the following categories:

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Global Internet infrastructure: As they say in the networking world, respect the physical layer.
In the cloud world, there is a lot focus on soRware and applica0ons, which reside at the higher
levels of the technology “stack,” but you cannot forget the physical infrastructure in the ground
that supplies the raw bandwidth for the cloud. This includes op0cal fiber infrastructure
operated by global service providers, cloud providers, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs), as
well as other physical-layer networks such as mobile infrastructure and satellite providers. The
leading cloud providers are making it easier for customers to connect their datacenters to the
cloud faster using AWS Direct Connect, Azure Express Route, and Google Interconnect. One
thing that’s interes0ng about the MCN networking movement is that this infrastructure is
becoming more diverse, with cloud providers becoming more important players in building out
and acquiring physical infrastructure and assets. These assets can now be leveraged by
organiza0ons that want to extend their enterprise network or build an en0rely new network-as-
a-service (NaaS).

Coloca3on Facili3es and Points of Presence (PoPs): The prolifera0on of coloca0on facili0es and
PoPs such as Internet peering points is one of the more important elements in the evolu0on of
the cloud and MCN. PoPs and coloca0on facili0es offer shared datacenters that allow operators
in the cloud ecosystem to connect and “peer” their traffic. Global service providers, cloud
providers, and enterprises alike use co-loca0on facili0es to build a global network of networks
using a variety of Internet and cloud networking technologies.

Layer 2 and Layer 3 Virtualiza3on: In order to manage and connect networking resources such
as Ethernet services (Layer 2) or Internet Transit using technologies such as Internet Protocol
(IP) rou0ng and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) (Layer 3), MCN will require a variety of network
virtualiza0on technologies that can connect to mul0ple clouds at gateways or PoPs. What’s
most important about applying Layer 2 and Layer 3 virtualiza0on is that it should be based on
open, cloud-na0ve technologies and APIs and automa0on, rather than being ahached to
specific proprietary hardware. This is one of the largest shiRs from legacy enterprise networking
to MCN.

Applica3on Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Gateways: Futuriom sees a substan0al shiR in
cloud and tradi0onal operator networks from legacy models involving proprietary, ver0cally
oriented systems to the open and scalable systems in the cloud ecosystem, which are driven
by APIs and programmability – which is fundamental to the approach of the largest cloud or
“webscale” services. A commonality among emerging technologies such as SDN, SD-WAN, and
MCN is that they use cloud-na0ve architectures and APIs to abstract, automate, secure, and

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improve networking within and between mul0ple public clouds. This enables the integra0on of
tradi0onal enterprise and datacenter networks with both private clouds and public clouds.

Applica3on-layer Networking and Service Meshes: The fabric of the cloud is based on
distributed applica0ons communica0ng and exchanging data with each other, and service
meshes and applica0ons-layer connec0vity can be used to connect these applica0ons across
clouds. The service mesh is an abstrac0on layer that manages communica0ons, observability,
and resiliency in distributed cloud-na0ve applica0ons. Innova0ons in MCN will include new
ways to monitor and manage service meshes – as well as integrate them with physical
infrastructure and network underlay -- to ensure the performance and security of mul0-cloud
connec0vity and hybrid cloud applica0ons.

3. Key MCN Requirements and Use Cases

Emerging technology markets always start by solving very specific problems. The MCN
challenges are numerous and complex, meaning it will require a variety of technologies to solve
specific use cases. The enabling technologies of MCN will be used across the networking stack
to deliver on specific use cases. This means there is plenty of room for technology providers to
build and integrate solu0ons from a variety of providers, many of which are profiled in this
report.

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Overall, Futuriom sees MCN and cloud-na0ve networking solu0ons solving the following general
areas:

Compliance and security: When connec0ng applica0ons across clouds, enterprises need to
build a common mul0-cloud network that can employ both cloud-na0ve networking constructs
and advanced network and security services that can operate across mul0ple clouds. Having a
single, abstracted MCN could solve many opera0onal challenges including network visibility,
security, compliance, redundancy, and applica0ons reliability.

Building MCN across clouds can present some complex security challenges – such as managing
firewalls in the enterprise network as well as the public cloud at the same 0me. Many of the
new wave of MCN tools can manage security such as encryp0on as well as firewall connec0vity
across clouds. This, for example, can help IT managers ensure consistent security by configuring
consistent mul0-cloud ingress and egress security and remote access control policies across a
mul0-cloud network.

Integrated networking approach: One of the challenges with exis0ng public cloud constructs is
that using these tools risks cloud “lock-in” with a specific provider. These constructs may
present challenges of integra0on with the exis0ng legacy enterprise network. MCNs can help
improve the flexibility of the enterprises by using cloud gateways, APIs, and soRware
provisioning and orchestra0on to build a single infrastructure that can connect applica0ons
across mul0ple clouds. MCN tools can also be used to integrate rou0ng, for example by
resolving rou0ng tables, Domain Name Services (DNS), Network Address Transla0on (NAT), and
configuring cloud-based firewalls. These are important elements of integra0ng private networks
with cloud networks.

Opera3onal visibility, compliance, and security: One of the biggest areas to watch in MCN is
how to provide management teams with peace of mind when they extend their networks across
clouds. In our interviews and surveys, end users frequently cite the need to build a logical,
virtualized network that can integrate mul3ple cloud services while at the same 3me ensure
compliance, security, and visibility into their networking infrastructure and applica3ons.

Connec3ng distribu3ng applica3ons. MCN technology can help solve some of the challenges of
mul0-cloud and hybrid cloud applica0ons, many of which are built on microservices or use
popular cloud-na0ve orchestra0on tools such as Kubernetes. MCN can be used to op0mize
mul0-cloud applica0on performance, policy, and security. Service meshes and APIs can be used
to connect and secure these applica0ons at the higher layers of the networking stack.

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Drilling Down Into Key Requirements

When we drilled down deeper into specific used cases and requirements through our survey
and interview work, we discovered common paherns in the key requirements and use cases for
MCN, as seen in the chart below.

Note that the features and requirements are quite broad-based. Survey respondents were
asked to select all that apply, and responses were widely distributed, reflec0ng a diversity of
needs. But the top choice, “Improving governance by providing a single infrastructure for mul0-
cloud and hybrid cloud,” selected by 90 respondents or 60%, is a common theme in our
interview work as well. Managers need visibility into what’s going on with their network and
applica0ons – they’re not willing to connect into mul0ple public clouds unless they can monitor

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and integrate what’s happening as a single logical infrastructure. Priori0zing applica0ons across
mul0ple cloud infrastructures (84 respondents, 54%), and providing applica0ons visibility and
analy0cs (79 respondents, 53%) are natural complements to theme of observability and control.

The common theme of nearly all the responses reflects the need to ensure that networks
connec0ng mul0ple clouds can support the security, visibility, and performance of applica0ons.
This shows how MCN technology can be used to help organiza0ons transi0on from “shadow IT”
world of the cloud, in which many of their opera0ons are opera0ng in the dark, to the “official
IT” world of the cloud, where MCN technologies are used to solve compliance and opera0onal
challenges.
Addi0onal MCN Use Cases
In Futuriom’s recent MCN survey, users were asked to rank top MCN use cases from highest to
lowest. Below, you can see the ranking of the top uses cases for MCN, with the lowest score
represen0ng the highest ranking (survey respondents were asked to rank the uses cases from a
scale of 1 to 5, with 1 = best).

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While these survey results have highlighted some of the most common goals of MCN
technology, the use cases are plen0ful and are likely to expand. In our discussion with end users
as well as MCN vendors, it is clear that MCN will develop as a complex ecosystem that may
require several tools to solve the expanding use cases. Let’s take a look at what’s in these top
use cases.

Improving security opera3ons including firewalls: In our survey, improving security opera0ons
got the highest ranking as a use case. The reason this is emerging as a key MCN use case is that
network traffic policy needs to be consistent from the enterprise datacenter into the public
cloud. Na0ve cloud networking constructs oRen provide obstacles to managing virtual firewalls,
requiring IPSec VPNs or other overlays that can’t integrate with the enterprise networking
security architecture. Mul0-cloud solu0ons can be used to automate the deployment of virtual
firewall instances in the cloud, on demand; remove the need for IPSec tunneling; and maximize
throughput performance.

Driving network integra3on: The second-ranked use case was driving network integra0on,
which is a more broad category. One of the major trends developing in the industry is the use
of cloud IP transit networking to support applica0ons. Organiza0ons see a lot of value in
connec0ng their networks to the large cloud networking infrastructures to extend the network.
But enterprises don’t want their data and applica0ons to be limited to a specific cloud network,
and they want the approach to be consistent. For example, they might want to use services such
as MicrosoR Azure Virtual WAN or an Amazon VPC, but they need consistent opera0onal
visibility and integra0on. They may want to extend the cloud out to the enterprise premises
using Google Anthos, Amazon Outposts, or Azure Arc. But as enterprises and other
organiza0ons extend the resource of the public cloud, they don’t want to be locked into a single
cloud network. MCN networking tools will use a variety of techniques including APIs and cloud
gateways to build a heterogenous, mul0-cloud network that can be operated by an organiza0on
as one virtual en0ty.

Workflow and opera3onal visibility: As detailed, implemen0ng a unified opera0onal model for
networking, whether it’s in private cloud, datacenter, or mul0-cloud, is a top priority. For
example, a mul0-cloud approach can unify telemetry, monitoring, and network policy visibility
across clouds. Desired features include traffic flow analysis, network segmenta0on control, and
troubleshoo0ng in a single console. A mul0-cloud network approach can also be used to
automate provisioning with a single Terraform provider or leverage simple workflow-based
deployment processes.

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Consistent policy implementa3on. Managing network segmenta0on and applica0on policies

across mul0ple clouds can be challenging. MCN solu0ons can help facilitate applica0ons and
security segmenta0on by unifying policy management across mul0ple clouds. This can include
integra0on with the enterprise firewall plaZorm by providing connec0vity to the virtual firewall
instances located in public clouds.
Addi0onal Use Cases to Watch
Integra3on with the enterprise edge, including SD-WAN. Futuriom has tracked the explosive
growth in the soRware-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) market, which, according to
our annual SD-WAN Infrastructure Growth Report, is growing at a rate in excess of 30%
compound annual growth rate (CAGR). SD-WAN merged as a tool for integra0ng, op0mizing,
and automa0ng the connec0on to the enterprise edge. MCN can be seen as a way to integrate,
op0mize, and automate the connec0on of mul0ple clouds, including those connected via SD-
WAN at gateways or edge PoPs. The integra0on between SD-WAN and MCN is likely to grow
over 0me as a way for enterprises to extend their WAN resources.

5G Edge and private wireless connec3vity. In several end-user surveys conducted by Futuriom
this year, 5G has come to the fore as priority for both enterprises and service providers.
Operators see 5G as the key to deploying value-added services and suppor0ng poten0ally
gigan0c markets such as autonomous driving and virtual reality/augmented reality (AR/VR). At
the same 0me, enterprises are looking at building new wireless networks of their own, which
may or may not be connected to the public communica0ons infrastructure, in order to support
industrial automa0on or business analy0cs, processing data in real-0me at the “edge” or as
close to their facili0es and devices as possible. MCN is likely to play a large role in connec0ng 5G
networks to the cloud.

4. Key Tech Trends in the MCN Ecosystem

There is an exci0ng amount of innova0on in the mul0-cloud and cloud-na0ve networking space,
which Futuriom has been following for the last year. In the last six months, we have tracked an
explosion of innova0on in the startup community that will be quickly adopted by organiza0ons
to solve their MCN headaches.

As you can see from the described mul0ple use cases, the applica0on of MCN is both complex
and substan0al. Just as it would be silly to think that one solu0on could solve all the problems
of the cloud, it’s simplis0c to think that all the networking needs of the cloud can be solved with
one tool. Futuriom expects a wide variety of incumbent networking providers as well as MCN
startups to work together to solve the challenges.

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In looking at emerging technologies from the startup and cloud community, Futuriom has
discovered a wide range of innova0ve companies pursuing many uses cases for MCN. While
there is much overlap between many of these tools, they can be seen as addressing the
following key areas of the MCN ecosystem. Let’s examine some key trends and groups of
technology vendors.
Cloud NaaS: Automa0ng the Network Infrastructure
While virtualiza0on is the key to introducing automa0on and agility into networks, you s0ll need
an underlying infrastructure to meet these needs. Op0cal networks, wireless networks, co-
loca0on facili0es, and even good-old-fashioned copper networks are s0ll needed to provide the
last mile and connec0vity into the cloud at PoPs.

The difference between legacy infrastructure and next-genera0on MCN will come in the form of
automa0on, orchestra0on, and full network visibility. Legacy infrastructure is manually
configured and 0ed to proprietary hardware interfaces or hard-wired circuits such as MPLS and
private lines. The new MCNs will be driven by adaptable interfaces based on cloud principles
such as web interfaces, APIs, and SDN. They will include a more heterogeneous approach that
can adapt both open-source networking hardware and soRware as well as more flexibly
proprietary technology using APIs.

As demonstrated in our recent CSP Networking Automa0on Survey and report, results from 100
network operators indicate that automa0on will be key to mul0-cloud efforts.

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Several groups of companies are pursuing this model as they adapt and look to develop more
flexible tools. They include the following groups of companies.

Cloud providers such as AWS, Microso^ Azure, Google, IBM, and others are building substan0al
cloud infrastructure that help enterprise connect directly to their global networks using API
gateways at local PoPs. This trend enables enterprises as well as SD-WAN providers to boost
applica0on performance by plugging directly into cloud networks using services such as Azure
ExpressRoute or Virtual WAN, Google Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), and Amazon VPC or Transit
Gateway. The three major cloud providers have also made a major push into helping extend
public cloud to on-premises with Google Anthos, Amazon Outposts, and Azure Arc.

Coloca0on providers such as Equinix and Digital Realty have built large footprints of hos0ng
facili0es but are now expanding into the soRware management domain with virtual network
connec0vity tools such as Equinix’s ECX, which is designed to help networking managers create
cloud fabrics among coloca0on facili0es.

A number of virtualized network-as-a-service (NaaS) providers are using cloud-na0ve

approaches to help organiza0ons connect to infrastructure on the fly. For example, Megaport
uses a virtual networking overlay and soRware-based provisioning to provide private point-to-
point Ethernet links between cloud networks. PacketFabric provides a web-based NaaS
provisioning plaZorm to instantly build mul0-cloud connec0vity, including adding bandwidth,
without wai0ng for manual provisioning of circuits. Alkira, founded by the founders of SD-WAN
pioneer Viptela (Cisco), provides a NaaS targe0ng MCNs with its own cloud infrastructures using
a slick self-service portal that abstracts out all network configura0on. Alkira is also white-
labeling its plaZorm to service providers to reduce the fric0on in provisioning MCNs. Teridion’s
public-cloud based Internet overlay targets improving route op0miza0on. Cato Networks
started in the SD-WAN camp but is rapidly expanding the number of PoPs it offers on a global IP
Transit network bundled with a cloud security suite.

Tradi3onal service providers such as AT&T, Telefonica, Tata Communica3ons, and Verizon are
racing to virtualize the soRware control of their substan0al networking assets. The ques0on is
will they be able to overcome their legacy business models and slow provisioning 0mes to move
directly to a virtualized model. Many of them have made strides in building more modern OSS
and BSS soRware that can provision and bill for value-added MCNs, as well as building customer
portals that enable customers to order their own networks. Further MCN func0onality will be
extended by their partnerships with SD-WAN vendors, who are star0ng to provide MCN
features. Some are making further investment.

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For example, Tata has invested in NetFoundry Inc, which provides a cloud-na0ve network
plaZorm, including a dynamic Internet overlay Fabric comprised of a mix of edge and cloud
PoPs.

All of this is headed in the same direc0on: Picture a giant virtual cloud that can be accessed
using soRware-based NaaS tools that can build any-to-any network connec0vity among private
networks, datacenters, and public clouds.
How IP Rou0ng Innova0on Will Drive MCN
A new genera0on of cloud-based rou0ng underlay solu0ons are emerging to target cloud-scale
networks. MCN requires different characteris0cs for rou0ng. Instead of being 0ed to a specific
hardware box, cloud-based rou0ng needs to be built in soRware, typically using a microservices
approach, so it can be hosted and scaled across clouds. It should also be disaggregated from a
specific flavor of hardware and implemented as a discrete Networking Opera0ng System (NOS)
that can run in any type of cloud – private cloud or public cloud. This way, IP rou0ng with
encryp0on and security can be used to create resilient, secure networks that connect mul0ple
clouds. Rou0ng market leader Cisco’s recent unbundling of its IOS rou0ng soRware as part of its
effort to deliver its new Silicon One chip strategy reflects the mainstream pressure to adopt a
disaggregated, cloud-based approach to IP rou0ng.

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Some of the new NOSes with advanced IP features are being provided by cloud-na0ve network
startups Arrcus and DriveNets. Cloud-based IP rou0ng will be an area to watch as next-
genera0on technologies such as Segment Rou0ng (SR-MPLS and SRv6) add features to make IP
rou0ng part of MCN solu0ons, setng the stage for a new era of rou0ng innova0on. Incumbent
NOS rou0ng leaders such as Cisco, Nokia, and Juniper Networks are also retooling and
“disaggrega0ng” (unbundling soRware) for rou0ng in MCN applica0ons. As an example, Nokia
has announced revamped NOS strategy including Nokia Service Router Linux (SR Linux) and
Nokia Fabric Service PlaZorm (FSP), targe0ng cloudscale rou0ng and boas0ng an impressive
customer with Apple. Nokia is also integra0ng virtual networking and underlay capabili0es with
its SD-WAN and data-center networking plaZorm, Nuage Networks. Even op0cal networking
leader Ciena has entered the rou0ng market, with solu0ons targe0ng the edge market.
Pureport’s Mul0cloud Fabric plaZorm provides a distributed, layer-3 fabric that is based on FRR
for enabling MCN over their infrastructure. Addi0onally, Pureport partners with other service
providers, including PacketFabric, to extend hybrid cloud capabili0es to a partner’s customer
base.

Expect to hear more about this as the landscape shiRs quickly. Who will win? There are a lot of
NOSes and approaches to cloud-na0ve rou0ng on the market. One bahle will come in the form
of open-source versus proprietary. In some applica0ons, end users believe that open-source
solu0ons such as FRR can be effec0ve in scaling mul0-cloud connec0vity, while others say that
proprietary solu0ons are needed to address high performance and the scalability issues of some
open-source solu0ons. The religious wars will heat up as various fac0ons tout their cloud
rou0ng solu0ons as the best. But Futuriom believes the trend is exci0ng and offers ways in
which rou0ng can be reinvented for the cloud.
Up the Stack: MCN Management and App-layer Services
As you move up the cloud networking “stack” away from physical infrastructure and into MCN
soRware applica0ons, there are a wide variety of approaches that can be used with overlays at
the L4-7 level to improve connec0vity to clouds, as well as provide app-layer services.

For example, Aviatrix provides a cloud network plaZorm, which through an intelligent controller
and integra0on with Terraform directly programs the na0ve cloud networking constructs of
AWS, Azure, GCP and OCI, while adding advanced networking and security services to help
network managers and IT professionals maintain a single point of opera0onal visibility, control,
security and compliance across the MCN.

But that’s not all! Innovators can put app-layer networking and security in the cloud and 0e it
into many different cloud-based services, in the same way that Hyperconverged Infrastructure
(HCI) combined virtualiza0on of storage, networking, and compute as one scalable service.

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 Futuriom - The Future of Mul0-Cloud Networking Report - September 2020

There are emerging mul0-layer integrated stacks for MCN in the cloud. For example, Volterra
provides an en0re SaaS-based suite of app networking and security services, including a
distributed load balancer and ingress-egress controller, a distributed API gateway, WAF/DDoS,
and API auto-discovery and control.

Volterra has also built its own applica0on delivery network in what resembles a content delivery
network (CDN) for MCN, but for stateful workloads, hosted and secured on a private network
with 10+ terabits of capacity. NetFoundry has an intriguing cloud-na0ve networking fabric to
provide Quality of Experience (QoE), zero-trust / virtual private networking (VPN), and
applica0on network control through a soRware development kit (SDK) and APIs.

Virtualiza0on pioneers Citrix and VMware don’t want to be leR out of the MCN party either.
Cloud overlay pioneer VMware has been busy integra0ng its virtual networking plaZorm NSX
with VeloCloud SD-WAN and Avi’s load balancer to build a mul0-cloud solu0on that extends
from the enterprise SD-WAN edge to inside of the cloud. At the same 0me, VMware is folding in
soRware-based security and firewalls into this cloud networking porZolio. Citrix provides a
variety of tools designed for building MCN, including its virtual Citrix ADC, Citrix SD-WAN,
Applica0ons Delivery Management, and the Citrix Web App Firewall.
SD-WAN: Set for Integra0on with MCN
SD-WAN is a growing technology that emerged from the need to consolidate a number of
branch-office networking technologies such as rou0ng, WAN op0miza0on, and route
op0miza0on with soRware control. SD-WAN typically terminates at the cloud instance or PoP of
the SD-WAN provider, but it’s now being extended into cloud services such as AWS and Azure
using technologies such as Direct Connect or Azure Virtual WAN.

It seems obvious that SD-WAN func0onality will be extended into the cloud to provide MCN
features. The way to think about it is that SD-WAN op0mized and virtualized the enterprise
edge, providing a plaZorm for a variety of WAN apps ranging from route op0miza0on and
applica0ons delivery to security. These same func0ons will be enabled when connec0ng
networks across mul0ple clouds.

It’s going to be interes0ng to see how the such as leaders such as Aryaka Networks, Cisco,
VMware’s VeloCloud, and Silver Peak (HPE), among many others (please see our 2020 SD-WAN
Growth Infrastructure report for the full ecosystem), take SD-WANs from regional PoPs into
MCN. The focus will be on further integra0on through direct connec0ons to other cloud
providers as well as service provider networks. This will break down differently depending on
whether the SD-WAN providers focus on PoP infrastructure on their own vs. partnering with
service providers and cloud providers. For example, Cato Networks is building out a network of

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 Futuriom - The Future of Mul0-Cloud Networking Report - September 2020

PoPs, last numbering 55+, focused on security services or Secure Access Services Edge (SASE).
Aryaka already operates their own middle mile cloud network and offers SmartServices from its
PoPs, including direct connec0vity to AWS, Azure, Google, Oracle, and Alibaba Cloud -- in
addi0on to 400+ SaaS services. Aryaka also has an agreement with Equinix to use ECX Fabric to
extend coverage to regions beyond its PoPs.

Some of the other SD-WAN providers are also partnering with cloud providers using direct
connec0ons and PoP coloca0on, but they are more focused on SD-WAN plaZorm func0onality
and partnerships rather than building their own infrastructure. For example, VMware’s
VeloCloud has been deepening partnerships with service providers to expand their PoPs as
gateways and integra0ng with the physical infrastructure. Versa Networks is focused on
providing the SD-WAN plaZorm in partnership with infrastructure providers including service
providers such as Comcast and Verizon as well as Managed Service Providers (MSPs). Another
interes0ng example is the integra0on being demonstrated by For3net, an SD-WAN and security
soRware and hardware provider, with Masergy, an enterprise-focused service provider, to
provide an integrated SD-WAN, security, and infrastructure bundle. Integra0on between SD-
WAN enterprise edge and MCN is likely to increase over 0me, resul0ng in many partnerships
and poten0al combina0ons.

Company Leadership Profile: PacketFabric

PacketFabric redefines how the enterprise moves data by automa0ng network connec0vity
services. Leveraging an en0rely automated SDN-based network architecture and the latest in
op0cal and packet switching technology, PacketFabric enables dynamic, real-0me connec0vity
services between the world’s premier coloca0on facili0es. The PacketFabric Network-as-a-
Service (NaaS) plaZorm delivers simple, cost-effec0ve, and scalable network deployment via its
advanced Applica0on Program Interface (API) and web portal. PacketFabric was named one of
the “10 Hohest Networking Startups in 2020” by CRN a “Cool Vendor" in Enhanced Internet
Services and Cloud Connec0vity for 2020 by Gartner. PacketFabric investors include NantWorks
and Digital Alpha Advisors. Visit packeZabric.com for more informa0on.

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